Some people are very different from the characters they play on television. Secret agents, scientists, murders, and politicians are easy to play, but the actors that play them separate from the role after leaving the set. Hafþór Björnsson is the same massive monster in real life that he is on television though.

Being the strongest man in the world is definitely an honor. Hafþór Björnsson, who plays “The Mountain” on Game of Thrones, has stepped up to take that honor in several categories. Much like his monstrous character on HBO’s most successful show, Björnsson is a beast to behold. He stands at a moderate six foot and 9 inches but weighs a gargantuan 397 pounds.

Björnsson competed in the 2018 Arnold Strongman Classic, and he set a world record for the raw deadlift with a 1,041-pound lift. That’s roughly half the weight of a sedan. The weightlifting classic event is named after Arnold Schwarzenegger. Björnsson will prepare for Europe’s Strongest Man competition next, and then the world championships in May.

Bjornsson also broke the weight over bar world record. Game of Thrones will return for its final season next year, and hopefully, he can translate some of his real-world success into surviving the winter.

Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman filed suit against the U.S. Olympic Committee for failing to take action to prevent former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University team doctor Larry Nassar from molesting hundreds of young athletes, according to news reports.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in California but announced Friday, accuses the committee of bungling its response to sexual abuse allegations against Nassar, who is now serving a long prison term for sex crimes.

“After all this time, they remain unwilling to conduct a full investigation, and without a solid understanding of how this happened, it is delusional to think sufficient changes can be implemented,” Raisman said in a statement, according to NBC. “I refuse to wait any longer for these organizations to do the right thing. It is my hope that the legal process will hold them accountable and enable the change that is so desperately needed.”

A USA Gymnastics trainer was sometimes present during treatment sessions where Nassar abused young athletes at the Karolyi Ranch, Raisman alleges in the suit, according to NBC News.

Raisman, in recent interviews, has accused the USOC of ignoring allegations against Nassar and threatening her not to tell how he molested her under the guise of treatment.

“I was told [by USA Gymnastics] to be quiet,” Raisman told ESPN in January. “And I think that when somebody in high power is telling you to be quiet, right when they realized you are abused, I think that that is a threat. USA Gymnastics just said, ‘We’re handling this. We got this. Like, stop asking us questions.’”

Raisman, a gold medalist who competed at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, was among more than 100 women who alleged Nassar sexually abused them. He pleaded guilty to child pornography and sexual assault charges and was sentenced to lengthy prison terms.

The USOC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The group’s CEO, Scott Blackmun, resigned on Wednesday after a cancer diagnosis.

“Under his leadership, USOC has focused nearly all its efforts on money and medals while the safety of our athletes has taken a back seat,” attorney John Manly, who represents many of Nassar’s victims, including Raisman, said in a statement.

He predicts it won’t happen while he’s helping Team USA try to win a gold medal in Pyeongchang. But sometime down the road it will have more of an impact.

Greenway, a junior winger for Boston University, is the first African-American to compete for the U.S. men’s hockey team in the Olympics.

“I think it’s great, it’s unbelievable,” Greenway said following a practice at Gangneung Ice Arena. “I don’t think it’s hit me how I think it will later on in my life to be honest with you. I grew up around a predominantly white population and a lot of white people playing (hockey), so I’ve always looked at it as just another kid. I think it’s an honor. I’m very excited about it. I hope I’m the first of many.”

Greenway, 20, has played hockey all his life. He put on his first pair of skates when he was 3. It’s what kids are accustomed to growing up in Canton, N.Y., which is 20 miles from the Canadian border. Plus his brother J.D., who is a sophomore defenseman at Wisconsin, and all of his cousins played. He was just next in the family line. Greenway tried out other sports — football, lacrosse, baseball — but didn’t develop the same passion.

“I was OK at them,” he said, laughing. “I kind of mixed it up, but I don’t know. I always had the most fun playing hockey. I enjoyed waking up really early in the morning and playing hockey. I didn’t have the same enjoyment going to (play other sports). I didn’t want to do that for football or other sports. Just thought this was the right fit for me.”

Greenway was drafted by the Minnesota Wild in 2015, but chose to stay in school. Because the NHL prohibited its players from Olympic competition, he’s able to live out his dream as an amateur.

Physically, he’s a big body on the ice at 6-5, 230 flat-footed. Greenway estimates he’s 6-8 or 6-9 on skates, but such an imposing figure could fudge his numbers and say he’s 7-feet and no one would blink.

His height certainly provides an advantage when getting to the net, protecting the puck and creating space, but it’s not always better to be bigger, he said.

“You get some of these smaller guys who are quick and they put you on edge,” he said, smiling. “But it definitely has a lot of benefits.”

Greenway tallied 25 points in 28 games for Boston U. this season and was second with eight points on the U.S. team that won gold in the 2017 junior world championships. He also played for the 2017 world championship team that finished fifth.

By making history, Greenway hopes to use these Olympics to inspire other African-American kids to play hockey.

“That’s definitely the goal,” he said. “Trying to get more, not just African American, but more cultures playing. I don’t think it’s any secret that more white people play than black people. So hopefully I can try to be another role model to try to put it in these kids’ minds to hopefully try and do something different and hopefully we’ll get more black people and different cultures playing the game.”

CLEVELAND — Boston star forward Gordon Hayward suffered a gruesome injury, dislocating his left ankle and fracturing his left tibia just five minutes into his debut with the Celtics.

Hayward, who signed a four-year, $128 million free agent contract this summer, went up for an alley-oop pass and collided with LeBron James midway through the first quarter. He got his leg twisted underneath him as he came back to the floor. Hayward collapsed under the basket and looked in horror as his left foot was pointing outward.

He put his hands to his face and dropped back to the floor as a hush fell over the sellout crowd inside Quicken Loans Arena.

According to The Vertical’s Chris Mannix, the Celtics are cautiously optimistic about Hayward’s injury:

With minutes to play and his team still trying to claw its way back, Hayward was loaded back onto a stretcher and carted out a side door. He will return to Boston for further tests, but team officials are cautiously optimistic. It appeared to be a clean break, sources told Yahoo Sports, and while more tests will be needed to determine the extent of the damage, Hayward may have avoided something catastrophic.

After the injury, Hayward’s new teammates huddled in prayer at their bench as a distressed James covered his mouth and several Cleveland players nearby looked away. Hayward had his leg placed in an air cast, and James came over and consoled him before the 27-year-old was pushed from the floor on a stretcher.

Cleveland’s crowd gave Hayward a roaring ovation as he left.

“You hurt for him,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said of Hayward, his former star at Butler. “It’s a tough, tough deal, but I guess that’s part of the risk of injury. I really feel for him.”

The team later confirmed that Hawyard’s ankle was broken and that he’d fly back to Boston Tuesday night. It’s a devastating blow for the Celtics, who had hoped to close the gap on the Cavs in the Eastern Conference.

Now, they could be without Hayward for an extended period.

Hayward spent the past six seasons with the Utah Jazz before signing with Boston.

The injury overshadowed Kyrie Irving’s return to Cleveland after the All-Star point guard was traded to Boston this summer.

LeBron James said seeing Hayward get hurt reminded him of grisly injuries to Paul George, Shaun Livingston and Louisville’s Kevin Ware.

“My thoughts and prayers go out to Gordon’s family. Hope for a speedy recovery, a healthy recovery,” James said. “Those are the injuries that you never see coming, you never want to happen, no matter who it is, no matter what the stature, no matter how much competitive nature that you have. It’s just very unfortunate.”

Short of learning that his career might be over, news on the injury that Aaron Rodgers suffered in the first quarter of the Week 6 Packers vs Vikings game was as bad as it could get for fans in Green Bay. It is reported that the two-time MVP will soon undergo an evaluation to see the extent of a broken collarbone on the side of his throwing arm. Officials gauge that he will be out a minimum of 8 weeks, likely tarnishing hopes that he will be back to complete the remainder of the 16-game regular season.

The match-up was barely underway against their division rivals, when four passes in, Rodgers was chased from the pocket and taken down by Minnesota linebacker Anthony Barr. At first glance, the tackle didn’t appear to be very serious. There was clearly some impact to his landing, but Rodgers’ arm didn’t appear to twist in any kind of awkward manner. But he did curl his elbow into his body and momentarily squirm on the ground. Rodgers would eventually get to his feet without assistance and power walk off to the sidelines, where medical personnel checked him out before calling on a cart to transport him to the locker room.

Rodgers’ third-year backup, Brett Hundley entered the game with the score at 0-0. He’d lead a scoring drive to put the team on the board in the second quarter. However, he wasn’t able to do much of anything else from that point forward, as Green Bay dropped the game, and submitted their first place spot to Minnesota with a final score of 23-10. The question now looms as to whether Hundley, who obviously lacks the pocket presence, arm, timing and big game ability of the great Rodgers, can do just enough to pull Nelson, Cobb, Adams, Montgomery, Bennett and the boys through enough victories to hand the team back to their ace in the postseason.

Colin Kaepernick is taking the NFL to court. It was reported on Sunday, October 15, that the star quarterback-turned-activist has filed a grievance that accuses the league’s team owners of collusion under its collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Players Association. After news broke about the move it was confirmed that he has foregone representation under the Players Association and hired high powered attorney Mark Geragos (who has defended the likes of Michael Jackson and Chris Brown) to argue his case.

Each of the NFL’s 32 teams has been sent a copy of the court document, as has the NFLPA. The complaint charges that owners and executives around the NFL “have colluded to deprive Mr. Kaepernick of employment rights in retaliation for Mr. Kaepernick’s leadership and advocacy for equality and social justice and his bringing awareness to peculiar institutions still undermining racial equality in the United States.” Geragos has called for an arbitration hearing on behalf of his client.

Kaepernick has been out of a job since opting out of his contract with the San Francisco 49ers in March. He’d go on to shop his on-field abilities to a couple of teams but stopped receiving calls to work out for teams in the market for a quarterback before long. As the offseason dragged out with various questionable signings at the quarterback position, fans began to question why Kaepernick was being passed over and suspicions that he was being blackballed began to take root. While a number of players and analysts have openly professed their belief that his activism is viewed as a “distraction” and thus played a role in him being denied a shot, team representatives have vehemently denied that he is being blackballed on their account.

The LA Lakers have been fined by the NBA for violating the league’s anti-tampering rules when they were pursuing Paul George. The fine amounted to $500,000.

Before George was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Lakers GM Rob Pelinka reportedly had inappropriate contact with George’s agent. The league had warned Magic Johnson about comments he made when appearing on Late Night with Jimmy Kimmel.